West Indies legend Kieron Pollard continued his rich vein of form by smashing a 17-ball fifty in the CPL 2025 match between Trinbago Knight Riders and Guyana Amazon Warriors on Saturday (September 6).
Kieron Pollard follows 21-ball fifty with 17-ball effort
Five days back, Pollard had accelerated from 12 off 13 to 54 off 21 by hitting St Kitts and Nevis Patriots' spinners for seven sixes in eight balls. Against Guyana, he improved on that effort.
Put in to bat after losing the toss, Trinbago lost their first three wickets for 39 runs in 5.2 overs. A 56-run fourth-wicket partnership ensued between Keacy Carty and Darren Bravo, following which Bravo departed, bringing Pollard to the crease in the 16th over with the team score reading 95-4.
Trinbago were in dire need of some impetus, and Pollard took just two balls to provide that. The third and fourth deliveries he faced were hit for fours, before he hit his first six off his eighth ball. The next ball got the same treatment taking Pollard to 23 off nine.
Quiz: Gayle, Pollard, Russell – How well do you know the West Indies T20 giants?
Imran Tahir was then greeted with a four and a six in the 19th over, as Pollard went up to 34 off 13 by the time he entered the final over of the innings, to be bowled by Romario Shepherd. He got strike on the second ball, which he swung and missed, but the last four balls were smashed for two sixes and two fours, helping him reach 50 off just 17 balls and take his team to a competitive total of 167-5.
This was the joint-third fastest half-century in CPL. Evin Lewis and David Miller have also made 17-ball fifties, while JP Duminy (15 balls) and Andre Russell (14 balls) are the two quickest half-centurions in the league's history.
However, Pollard's heorics could not prevent Trinbago from conceding the match, as SKNP captain Shai Hope's anchoring 41-ball fifty, along with Shimron Hetmyer's 30-ball 49 and Dwaine Pretorius' 14-ball cameo of 26 took them over the line. This made Pollard's half-century the fastest in CPL history to come in a losing cause.
Match 23, Guyana Amazon Warriors vs Trinbago Knight Riders
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- Ball by ball Over
Pollard finished with a strike rate of exactly 300 (54* off 18), making his knock only the 14th 50-plus score in T20 cricket to come at strike rate of 300 or more in a losing cause.
50 of Pollard's 54 runs came in boundaries (five fours, five sixes) – 92.6 per cent. This is the third-highest proportion for a 50-plus score in CPL history after Andre Russell in 2021 (48/50 - 96 per cent) and Evin Lewis (90/97 - 92.8 per cent).
With 291 runs at an average and strike rate of 72.75 and 185.35, Pollard is fourth on the top run-scorers' list this season.
The most runs Pollard has scored in a single edition of the CPL is 349, in 2019. With at least one league game and two playoff matches (Trinbago are second on the points table) to go, he has a chance to make this his most successful CPL season yet.
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